Samus Aran is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Metroid science fiction action game series by Nintendo.

As a woman in a male-dominated role, Samus has been widely considered a breakthrough for female characters in video games. Samus' reveal in the original Metroid was named as the greatest twist in video games by Game Informer in 2007 and as the greatest moment in Nintendo's history by GameDaily in 2008.